Absolute newbie question...

[northernladuk]

<taking the piss>
I see contract rates of £500 per day, so if I go contracting I'll earn £2500 per week, per year that's 52 times £2500 .....
</taking the piss>

LOL yeah thats the one. I would love to look the OP in the eye and ask him if he has worked out from that daily rate what he would earn every 1, 10 and 30 minutes and caught himself on the throne working out how much he earned for that

[MarillionFan]

LOL yeah thats the one. I would love to look the OP in the eye and ask him if he has worked out from that daily rate what he would earn every 1, 10 and 30 minutes and caught himself on the throne working out how much he earned for that

You forget to add the VAT. It's much more than £2500 per week!

[northernladuk]

You forget to add the VAT. It's much more than £2500 per week!

I didn't as it wasn't me that said that but could point well made lol

[MarillionFan]

LOL yeah thats the one. I would love to look the OP in the eye and ask him if he has worked out from that daily rate what he would earn every 1, 10 and 30 minutes and caught himself on the throne working out how much he earned for that

In the good old days(when I first started) I knocked up a screensaver that would pop up on the screen and would show how much I was earning per second and accrue on the screen.

No-one ever knew what is was and assumed it was something to do with the stock market, but coming back from spending a penny and knowing you'd made an extra £10 on top always amused me.

[northernladuk]

In the good old days(when I first started) I knocked up a screensaver that would pop up on the screen and would show how much I was earning per second and accrue on the screen.

No-one ever knew what is was and assumed it was something to do with the stock market, but coming back from spending a penny and knowing you'd made an extra £10 on top always amused me.

ROFL Ok, will hold my hand up. Me too

[expat]

ROFL Ok, will hold my hand up. Me too

worth a poll, that one. Mine's a Yes.

[Platypus]

I see contract rates of £500 per day, so if I go contracting I'll earn £2500 per week, per year that's 52 times £2500 .....

I think that's a reasonable question for someone who's never contracted before and who's looking at the rates that seem to be on offer.

Just because the answer is 'obvious' to you doesn't make it obvious to someone who's never worked as a contractor before. It only becomes 'obvious' when someone takes the time to explain it to you.

Give folks a break!

[northernladuk]

I think that's a reasonable question for someone who's never contracted before and who's looking at the rates that seem to be on offer.

Just because the answer is 'obvious' to you doesn't make it obvious to someone who's never worked as a contractor before. It only becomes 'obvious' when someone takes the time to explain it to you.

Give folks a break!

Chillax dude! Just pulling the newbies leg. As you can see in the last 4 posts we all admit to doing the same so just poking fun at ourselves as well.

[bluwale]

Thanks all for your "constructive" feedback

And the £500 was just an example, as it seems to be the going rate for the Interim Director/Programme Manager roles I am looking at.

[expat]

I think that's a reasonable question for someone who's never contracted before and who's looking at the rates that seem to be on offer.

Just because the answer is 'obvious' to you doesn't make it obvious to someone who's never worked as a contractor before. It only becomes 'obvious' when someone takes the time to explain it to you.

Give folks a break!

With my <taking the piss> tags, please! As northernladuk said, we have all done it.

OK, the stuff is probably all in stickies, but in a few words:

1. even when you're in a contract, you probably won't always get the rate that you thought you would.
2. you WILL spend some time not in a contract. Even if its only a few days or a couple of weeks between contracts, it all counts.
3. they probably won't let you work public holidays. If they tell you not to come in over the christmas period, you won't get paid for it.
4. you might want to take some holiday time
5. you might have time off sick (thought we try hard not to).
6. even the odd day or half-day for personal business (including going to the doctor), which you may have just got away with as a permie, is probably not billable as a contractor. That may include the office party too.
7. You will have some expenses that permies don't, such as an accountant and insurance.
8. You will have some costs that don't come out of a permie's quoted salary, but do come out of your rate, e.g. Employer's NI. This is quite large.
9. Most likely you will have to pay for all expenses yourself. E.g. the client tells you to go to the site somewhere else on Friday, you pay the taxi.
10. Pension contributions are up to you.
11. over a long period, there WILL be some recessions and you may well have LONG bench time.
etc.